The "Buy China" rule comes after slowed growth and greater
competition in the market, which poses a problem for the local
car industry.

Last week, China's Minister of Industry and Information
Technology posted a list of 412 cars--none of which were foreign
models--that are likely to be approved for government officials'
use, according to the WSJ. Currently, the most
popular model among government officials is the Audi A6, half
of which are sold in China.

The "Buy China" effort is more symbolic than anything, because of
the 14.5 million cars purchased in China last year, cars bought
by government agencies made up less than 5 percent of annual auto
purchases in the country.

But the rule could make a difference in the PR department,
considering how often we've seen Chinese citizens lambast
government workers with lavish spending habits.